For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

It was a very difficult week for my family as well as the food blog community. Heart disease is still the #1 cause of death in this country, and I hope that what I’m doing here at Summer Tomato can make a small (or, hopefully, large) dent in that in the years to come.

The good news is I found a ton of fantastic articles this week, with my top 10 including why carbs aren’t the obvious enemy in obesity, why sitting too much is not the same as working out too little and why being a nudist may extend your life.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Digg. I also share links on Twitter (@summertomato) and the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination <<I love this analysis calling out Gary Taubes’ over-simplistic view on carbs and obesity. I’m not at all a fan of processed foods, but health is more complicated than any one macronutrient. (Whole Health Source)
• Too Much Sitting is Not the Same as Too Little Physical Activity <<It’s a common misconception that going to the gym regularly can counteract a sedentary day job, but the evidence suggests otherwise. (Obesity Panacea)
• Are you ready for your 15 minutes of exercise? <<Previous article aside, any exercise can be tremendously beneficial (i.e. add 3 years to your life!). And the more the merrier. (Los Angeles Times)
• Picky Eating Might Be Classified as a Mental Illness <<While this is interesting, I’m a firm believer that picking eating can be overcome with an open mind and a decent chef. It’s worth finding out for yourself. (Wall Street Journal)
• Plenty of growth in farmers market industry, but USDA says there’s still room for plenty more <<In a world where a lot of things are going wrong, there are still a lot of things going right. I love this trend, look for it in a town near you. (Washington Post)
• Science Reveals Women Who Wear Less Clothing Live Longer <<In case you were looking for an excuse to be a nudist (who isn’t?!), here’s your chance. (Pssst, this is a joke). (Huffington Post)
• New study finds that fatty foods alleviate sadness <<I’ve also seen several studies correlating lowfat diets (particularly low omega-3 diets) to depression. An interesting area of research to keep an eye on. (National Post)
• Cross-Training by Lifting Weights <<Incorporating strength training was one of the biggest turning points in improving my health and physique. I recommend it for everyone. (New York Times)
• Do you suffer from portion paralysis? <<I love this post addressing our mindless eating habits that so often sabotage our best intentions. This is why eating mindfully can be so valuable. (Weighty Matters)
• Video for Jennifer Perillo: Mikey’s Peanut Butter Pie <<There was too much death and sadness this week. And despite the fact that a peanut butter pie is more likely to contribute to heart disease than help it, sometimes family, friends and memories are more important. Thank you White on Rice Couple for this incredible video dedication to Jennifer Perillo and her late husband Mikey.

Red Flame Grapes

Today’s guest post is by Jyoti Mishra Ramanathan, a fellow UCSF neuroscientist who studies attention and distraction in the human mind. In her article Jyoti reveals how attention impacts our experience of food and how we can harness this power to help us eat less without feeling deprived.

Learning to be a mindful eater will permanently change your relationship with food and is essential for upgrading your healthstyle.

Mindful Eating and Portion Control

by Jyoti Mishra Ramanathan

I grew up in India where life revolves around food. One wakes up to plan breakfast and as soon as that is over plans lunch, then immediately prepares for a typical 3-4 course dinner. When I visit aunts or my grandma, I’m barraged with food at every moment: eat this, eat that! Oh! You aren’t eating enough! Oh! Do you not like my dishes?

If you don’t accept all or any food that comes your way, it is seen as a sign of disrespect. And if this isn’t enough to make you over-eat, remember too that food is sacred in India. How could one waste the grains on one’s plate when there are millions around us suffering from hunger? Consequently, I grew up believing it is normal to forever be bursting at my seams–to eat to the point where taking another bite might even make me sick.

But a few years ago my eating habits changed.

I was at a meditation workshop and one evening we were told we’d be given one grape for dinner. This sounded impossible. However, I obediently sat cross-legged with the other attendees and was handed my single juicy purple grape.

As I popped it in my mouth, I was told to shut my eyes and sense the grape in its totality: I rolled my tongue around it becoming aware of the soft and smooth exterior of the tiny fruit, I imagined its rich purple color, and then as I slowly bit into it, I savored every trickle of juice that I could extract from the grape.

The process took me a full five minutes and never in my life have I remembered eating such a delicious grape, although it was from no extraordinary vine. Miraculously, I felt full as well.

Try the grape exercise. I do not promise the satisfaction of a full meal, but it is a beautiful exemplar of mindful eating that consequently taught me portion control.

4 Simple mindful eating tips

1. Never eat distracted, i.e. while watching TV or running to catch the bus. Observe the deliciousness on the plate, the colors, textures, flavors and smells, savoring each bite. As the meal makes its way to the stomach, start to notice the fullness in your tummy. I found that there is an initial satiation simply from this sensory overload of observant eating.

One could stop here, but this is not enough nourishment and hunger tugs again relatively soon. But as you slowly chew on your food and enjoy each bite, you experience a real fullness that completely satisfies your hunger. This sensation precedes the contentment of the taste buds, which may still desire a few extra bites of that rich chocolate cake. But as I learned to identify the hunger satiety point at each meal, I found I could also control the desires of my taste buds.

2. Do not visit a restaurant starving. It is harder to control how much you eat when faced with novel delicacies at a restaurant, especially when you get there on an empty stomach. My best defense against this is to eat a small snack right before. My favorite is a quick salad.

At home I always keep miscellaneous salad ingredients on hand: mixed greens, cheese, raisins, walnuts, candied almonds, grains like quinoa, blueberries, avocado, sundried or cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, figs, grilled chicken strips, smoked salmon, etc. Mix-and-match any of these in varying proportions and add some homemade dressing. Each time you will have a novel salad that never gets boring. After a light snack it is much easier to have restraint while ordering and eating, keeping both waistline and budget in check.

3. Share a meal. My husband and I more often than not share an appetizer, entrée and dessert at a restaurant. This is not because we can’t afford more. We simply enjoy sharing–describing the new tastes to each other, immersing ourselves in the experience and appreciating new food. In these happy moments satiety emerges effortlessly.

Try this even when out with a group of friends: order for 3 with a group of 4 and share. If there is still food left over and there are no pets or family at home, I offer my extras to the homeless. I just gave away a carrot cake a couple of nights ago and the delight in those eyes was like someone who had just found a treasure!

4. Don’t aim for 100% full. Hara Hachi Bu is Japanese for eating until 80% full. Okinawan islanders practice this and are known to be one of the longest living people on the planet. Their longevity is attributed to this moderate calorie restriction in combination with consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables, which protect against free radicals that damage your body’s cells.

Conclusion

In summary, there are many benefits to portion control: feeling better right after a meal, long-term health, weight management, saving cash by eating less and perhaps even living longer.

Practice mindful eating to make portion control a reality for you.

How do you control your portion sizes?

Originally published September 2, 2009.

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Tough decisions were made this week to narrow it down to 10 stories. Love the calorie infographic, also the commentary by Dr. Ludwig on industrial food and the “small” 32 oz. soda at a SF movie theater.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Digg, Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• Where Do Americans Get Their Calories? (Infographic) <<This is REALLY cool. Notice grain consumption increased nearly 50% (just like the AHA recommends), same with added fat (aka processed vegetable oils) and sugars. Veggie intake hasn’t changed, nor has dairy, and barely “meat, egg and nuts”. Fruit has gone up. Sounds like we’re obeying the food pyramid, yet eating 25% more calories and gaining weight and disease faster than ever. Lovely. (CivilEats)
• Food technology has been bad for human health since long before the invention of high-fructose corn syrup <<The wonderful Dr. Ludwig tells a more complete story about the nature of obesity. It’s not just the fructose. (Los Angeles Times)
• Food is cheap at market, but costs a lot elsewhere <<Food prices are going up, but are you confused why experts say calories are “cheap”? Learn the gory details from Marion Nestle. (SFGate)
• When did a “small” soft drink become 32 ounces? <<This saddening fact qualifies for BS of the week. Like seriously, this is disgusting. (SFGate)
• Sweet! Candy eaters surprisingly slimmer <<Interestingly, this study relied on a 24hr recall questionnaire, meaning that it didn’t actually test candy eating, but the awareness of candy eating. Mindful eating may be the key factor. (MSNBC)
• Vitamin D Can Decrease — Or Increase — Breast Cancer Development and Insulin Resistance, Study Finds <<Just in case you needed more convincing, relying on supplements is scary (especially if you over do it). (ScienceDaily)
• Food Day Campaign is Launched! <<Think real food is important? Me too! We now have a day to celebrate it! (CSPI)
• Routine Periodic Fasting Is Good for Your Health, and Your Heart, Study Suggests <<Fasting data is a lot more convincing than the “eat every 2-3 hrs” data. Just saying. (ScienceDaily)
• Substance in Tangerines Fights Obesity and Protects Against Heart Disease <<It would be nice if stuff like this ever panned out. We’ll see. (ScienceDaily)
• Not Your Mama’s Deviled Eggs <<I completely love deviled eggs, and these sound absolutely divine. Cheers to springtime 🙂 (The Novice Chef)

What inspired you this week?

Photo by eschipul

Over the past year I’ve become interested in mindfulness as a weight loss tool. In my experience, mindless eating is one of the biggest problems with food culture in the US.

When you eat as a reaction to environmental cues (rather than internal cues) you’re more likely to stick your hand into the chip bowl, eat so fast your blood sugar spikes like a rocket and gorge yourself on enough food to feed a small village.

Mindful eating can help you slow down, make better choices and stop eating when you’re no longer hungry. But practicing mindfulness isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Recently I asked friend and renowned life hacker Tim Ferriss if he had any thoughts or advice on meditation (my attempts have been frustrating at best). To my surprise his reply was, “if you want to develop mindfulness I recommend experimenting with lucid dreaming.”

Seriously?

I was intrigued, so when George Gecewicz asked me if I was interested in a guest post about lucid dreaming and mindfulness, I was eager to accept.

George is a young guy in New York’s Capital Region who likes to design websites and has been lucid dreaming for about a year. To see more about George’s projects visit heyitsgeorge.com

For more about lucid dreaming from Tim Ferriss, check out Lucid Dreaming: A Beginner’s Guide.

How To Lose Weight, Mediate Like a Monk and Hone Your Super Powers: The Magic of Lucid Dreaming

by George Gecewicz

If you’re in the middle of a dream and suddenly realize you’re dreaming, you have become lucid. While always fun, exciting, trippy, weird, sexy, and/or scary, there’s more to be gained from learning to lucid dream than just the exhilaration of flying around and doing whatever you want.

Lucid dreaming is a form of mindfulness, and the awareness you gain from practicing it can be applied to improve your daily life. For example, eating mindfully can be one of the most effective ways to make better food choices and control portions. It can also bring a more complete sense of well-being, allowing you to get the most out of experiences and enjoy elements of your life that you may otherwise take for granted. Tibetan Buddhists even use lucid dreaming as a form of meditation to explore their inner selves.

Learning to lucid dream is not difficult and you can get started today.

How to Lucid Dream

1. Keep a dream journal

As soon as you wake up, ask yourself what you were dreaming about and write it down. Try to focus on the details. Close your eyes and move as little as possible. As things start coming back to you, write them in your journal, record them into your phone, or draw pictures. You will be going over your recorded dreams later, so use whichever method brings back the most vivid memories and images for you.

2. Keep a “reality sign” and do reality checks

Keep some type of constant text or number structure with you at all times. This can be a Post-It note with some words or number on it, a math formula on your cell phone, anything that you have to read. My personal favorite is an old, dead watch, with the hour hand and minute hand stuck in the same spot.

Check this reality sign every two hours or so, and get used to observing that the text, numbers, minute hands, etc. are in the same spot. Eventually you will learn to check your reality sign in the dream world, and details like written words and the hands of a dead watch will not be constant. For example, let’s say you have a piece of paper with the word “TOMATO” on it. If you check it, and the letters are now arranged to spell “OOMATT”, you’re in a dream.

3. Wake up, then go back to sleep

If you have to get up at 8:00am set an alarm to wake you up 2-3 hours earlier, like 5:30am. Wake up with your early alarm, stay awake for at least 10 minutes, and then go back to sleep. Go over your dream journal in this period and try to focus on the images of these dreams. Check your reality sign once or twice and doze off. The next two or so hours will be ripe for lucid dreaming, and can often increase the occurrence of lucid dreams dramatically.

Work on this and be patient. It took me more than three weeks of recording dreams, doing reality checks, and playing around with short periods of wakefulness before I finally went fully lucid. Try and remember to stay calm if you happen to realize you’re dreaming. The first two times I went lucid, I was so surprised and excited that I woke myself up.

Once you do begin to lucid dream, you can start using your dream awareness to enhance your waking awareness. Here are some basic tips to get you started.

Expand Your Mindfulness

1. Use your new imagination

It’s still largely speculative if there are legitimate health benefits of lucid dreaming, but I can say from personal experience and talking with fellow dreamers that your ability to project images in your brain, focus on details, and be intensely aware of minutiae do improve. This comes from the above steps alone, even if you never go lucid.

For example, projecting the imagery of your dreams before bed and in periods of wakefulness is useful because it teaches you how to focus on one sense. Use this same intensity when you examine tastes, sights, sounds, feelings, and other sensations in the real world to maximize mindfulness. In this way, lucid dreaming does to your ability to focus what eating well does to your health.

2. Ween off your reality signs

Reality signs are important to get your dream skills off the ground, but view them sort of like training wheels. Eventually, as you become more aware of your subconscious reality, you’ll be able to recognize the subtle differences in general between the waking world and your dream world.

Focusing on these differences and relying less on your dream signs is one of the best ways to practice mindfulness. You’ll really start to taste your food, look at the sky, focus on your physical body, and be aware of your thoughts much more intensely, and you’ll notice their awesomeness compared to the weak sensations of the dream world. You’ll know you’re getting good when you look at tree branches a few hundred yards away and use those as your reality signs, not text written on paper. It’s pretty cool.

3. Get inspiration

Look to media, new experiences, art, and other resources to get inspiration for what you do in your lucid dreams. Basically, try gathering “material” that you want to recreate in a dream.

Let’s say you’re doing something really awesome: skydiving, spending time with your significant other, eating a delicious meal, reading a really clever book, etc. Focusing intensely on what’s going on will make recalling these sensations a breeze, which creates a greater state of mindfulness. This applies to anything you might want to “relive” and allows you to get the most out of any enjoyable experience.

Lucid dreaming is incredibly powerful. It’s also free, easy, safe, educational, and really fun. Be patient, stick to it, and good luck!

I’ll be down in the comments answering any questions you might have.

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

I found a stellar collection of thought provoking stories this week. Did you know that the HDL story is more complicated than we originally speculated, even Paleo advocates can acknowledge that how you eat is important and that drinking more can be good for you? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete list of my favorite stories check out my links on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• High Level of ‘Good’ Cholesterol Alone May Not Protect Heart <<Once again science shows that the story is more complicated than we originally suspected. Good cholesterol has a function, and if it doesn’t work having more around doesn’t help much. (Medline)
• The Perfect Posterior: Kettlebell Swings and Cheap Alternatives <<Awesome tutorial and videos on creating sexy booties with kettlebell swings. (Tim Ferriss)
• UK Scientist Suggests Rebranding GM Crops As “Vaccinated” To Win Over Consumers <<BS of the week. Does this even make sense? Would anyone be more excited to eat “vaccinated” food? Nasty. (Treehugger)
• You Are How You Eat <<Props to Mark Sisson for acknowledging that there’s more to healthy eating than choosing the right foods. (Mark’s Daily Apple)
• Book review: Gary Taubes’ Why We Get Fat <<I haven’t read Taubes‘ new book yet, but I really respect Yoni Freedhoff and he had harsh things to say, though strangely agrees with Taubes’ ultimate conclusions. In a word: oversimplification. (Weighty Matters)
• Heart disease risk rises with time spent sitting <<Does TV play a major role in your life? You might be setting yourself up for heart disease. (Los Angeles Times)
• What Do You Want To Be Made Of? <<Lovely and thoughtful piece by Nick at Macheesmo about what and why we eat.
• Men who drink moderately may be at lower risk for Type 2 diabetes <<What I like about this study is they looked at people who increased their drinking as opposed to maintained light drinking, suggesting that changing your behavior may actually help. (Los Angeles Times)
• Have a Food Allergy? It’s Time to Recheck <<More evidence that your food allergies are probably imaginary. (New York Times)
• Winter Quinoa Salad with Mixed Beans and Tahini-Chili Dressing <<I adore tahini, and this recipe looks delicious. (Former Chef)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Before we get started, I want to send you over to Quirky to help a little more with our farmers market bag design. We’ve already picked a winner, but now we’re looking to add features that will take it from awesome to super duper awesome. I know some of you are brilliant, so please come by and submit your ideas and modifications. Even if you don’t have anything to add, please vote on your favorite features.

After a lot of time off, we have some wonderful and inspiring stories this week. 3 simple recipes could set you up for life in the kitchen, more farmers markets are staying through the winter, and the “all carbs are better than all fat” dogma is finally being kicked to the curb.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete list of my favorite stories check out my links on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• 3 Recipes to change your life and the world <<Just getting started cooking and eating healthy? It’s much easier than you think. All it takes is 3 basic recipes to get started, according to Mark Bittman. (New York Times)
• More Farmers’ Markets Expand To Year-Round <<How awesome is this?! Seems voting with your fork (and dollar) is actually working. Don’t worry America, better food and markets are heading your way–all year! (Huffington Post)
• A reversal on carbs <<Hopefully this is not news to anyone here, but it’s good to see that science is finally overtaking decades of nutrition dogma. Truth FTW! (Los Angeles Times)
• Americans Falsely Believe Their Diet Is Healthy <<Possibly related to the above stated dogma, 90% of the population of the most unhealthy country ever thinks they’re doing a darn good job in the nutrition department. Yikes. (Discovery News)
• Bread at top of UK sodium-rich food purchases <<BS of the week. The BS here is not the finding (it’s hard to argue with), it’s the conclusions drawn by the scientists and, therefore, the journalist. Data says a bunch of crappy processed food is filled with sodium–bread being highest on the list–and the conclusion is not that we should eat less crap, but that we should ask food manufacturers to add less salt. Somehow I doubt everyone would become magically healthier. (Medline)
• Year In Dieting: Distraction, Noise Cause Overeating <<More evidence that being present and eating mindfully can help curb overeating. (NPR)
• Phys Ed: Does Exercising Make You Drink More Alcohol? <<Cause and effect still isn’t sorted out, but isn’t this interesting? I know for sure it applies to me and most of my friends. (New York Times)
• Fishy diet comes with lower risk of stroke <<Good news for fish eaters, bad news for vegetarians. It’s still not clear what exactly in fish makes it so healthy, but isolating omega-3s hasn’t helped much. (Medline)
• The Five Obstacles to Eating Right <<This looks like it might prove to be an interesting series on the obstacles to healthy eating. Probably worth following along. (Slate)
• Stovetop “Sous Vide” Episode 1: The Best Duck Breast Ever <<Sous vide without spending $450? Yes please. (Food Wishes)

By woodleywonderworks

Abandoning the idea of “going on a diet” is one of the most difficult and important adjustments to make when you are trying to lose weight and improve your health. To achieve and maintain your fitness goals, learning to think in the long-term instead of the short-term is a necessity.

We’ve been conditioned to think about our health as a temporary endeavor. When we find ourselves getting a bit out of shape we assume we need to start a new diet plan and maybe join a gym or cardio class.

“But, you know, things are busy right now and I’ll get to it in a couple weeks when I have more time.”

Even if we do start the plan and lose some weight, how long will it be before we slip back into our old routine and the pounds creep back on?

If you learn only one thing from Summer Tomato I hope it’s that diets don’t work. Calorie restriction in any form can induce temporary weight loss, but the vast majority of people emerge worse off than before they subjected themselves to the difficult and demoralizing task of losing weight and inevitably gaining it (plus a little extra) back.

The science is painfully clear that only long-term and consistent healthy lifestyle choices result in permanent weight loss and improved health.

To really win this war you need to shift your focus from short-term diets and weight loss goals to lifelong habits that promote good nutrition and a healthy metabolism–changes that, in my opinion, should be welcome and enjoyable.

It is never too late (or too early) to get started on your upgrade.

But once you’ve made the commitment to a better healthstyle, how do you know you are making progress without the specific goals and endpoints you get from a temporary diet plan?

This is an excellent question and something worth taking a minute to think about. The answer will be different for everyone and depend substantially on where you start and how you define success.

An example of a fantastic healthstyle goal would be getting off cholesterol, blood pressure or diabetes medication, something attainable by the majority of people taking them. For others the goal may be avoiding meds in the first place by reaching a healthy body mass index (BMI). Health goals like these are obviously a first priority for anyone facing them.

But healthstyle is not just for people with serious health problems. After all, the “normal” BMI range is pretty lenient and you may still have the goal of fitting back into a certain pant size or reaching a specific body fat percentage. These are certainly reasonable goals, especially when you are not approaching them from an all-or-none, feast or famine mentality.

But in my experience, specific number-oriented goals have little stay power when health is your top priority.

When you focus on eating delicious, healthy foods and getting regular exercise (in any form), as the months and years pass goals like reaching a certain body weight or jeans size start to feel a bit contrived. This isn’t because physical appearance or achievements aren’t important, but as your metabolism changes and your body gets healthier it becomes clear that you can feel and look a lot better than you ever really imagined.

What exactly defines the perfect weight or size anyway?

I am not trying to trivialize specific fitness goals nor the effort required to attain them. If you’ve read my diet history you know that I am not immune to aspirations like these. But over time feeling good becomes a more meaningful and satisfying goal than fitting into your jeans. And in my experience, the more energy I put into being healthy and living well, the smaller my jeans get anyway.

For awhile now my healthstyle goals have had little to do with body weight. Instead I choose to focus on habits I can develop that will improve my life and health overall. These include cultivating my cooking skills, learning to eat mindfully and figuring out the best lunch for an awesome afternoon workout.

Here are some of my recent healthstyle goals, which are changing constantly.

This article was originally published Oct 26, 2009, and I have left the original goals intact. However I have added my new list of 2010 goals below so you can see how my healthstyle has evolved. I’m happy to see that I’ve made progress on many of my goals from last year, and most of my new goals reflect bigger life changes that have occurred in the past year.

Healthstyle Goals 2009

• Experiment with new vegetables
• Recreate favorite restaurant dishes at home
• Get enough sleep
• Try new spices
• Eat slowly and mindfully
• Find great foodie resources in my neighborhood
• Get away from my computer at least twice per day
• Make friends with farmers
• Seek new challenges at the gym
• Take the stairs even when I don’t feel like it
• Learn new cooking techniques
• Get new pans
• Discover fabulous restaurants
• Recognize and avoid overeating cues
• Take advantage of seasonal produce
• Eat more legumes
• Prevent food cravings with good nutrition
• Eat more fish
• Take more walks
• Use usual ingredients in unusual ways
• Eat better when out of town
• Cook more ethnic cuisines
• Get more sun
• Develop a taste for my least favorite foods
• Make more soup
• Cook more for friends
• Eat out less than twice per week

Healthstyle Goals 2010

• Adjust to more frequent dining out
• Cook more at home (this is harder these days)
• Improve at cooking for two
• Buy more cookbooks
• Drink less alcohol
• Get better sleep
• Explore tea
• Cook more soup
• Eat slowly, even when very hungry
• Optimize food storage
• Practice meditation
• Cook more for friends
• Eat well and exercise while traveling
• Share great food discoveries
• Make friends with more farmers

What are your healthstyle goals?

Photo by Chris Isherwood back soon

Few things are as irrevocably tied to our health and well being as food. But while much attention is given to the kind of foods we eat, the way we eat and our relationship with food can be just as important.

Eating traditions and food culture have been all but abandoned in the US. Thanks to busy schedules, technological advances, and the aggressive marketing of convenience foods by the food industry it is now both possible and acceptable to eat anytime and anywhere.

But what price do we pay for this new found convenience?

Efficiency and multitasking are appealing in a society where time is arguably our most precious commodity, but we must remember that in the food world what we gain in expediency we sacrifice in quality of life.

When our goals are to cook as little as possible, eat whenever convenient, and not worry about the origins of our food, we lose both the joy and good health food should bring to our lives.

Meal time is an opportunity to unplug from the daily grind and recharge both physically and mentally. Rather than viewing eating as a regular chore that needs to be accomplished as efficiently as possible, we should approach food as a source of health and pleasure to be nurtured and enjoyed.

The most basic satisfaction we take from food is the sensual pleasure of eating itself. Good food is delicious, and appreciating this gift of nature can bring tremendous joy to you and those you care about. A good meal deserves your full attention and requires little more than stepping away from the screen and sitting at a table.

Food also has the power to bring people together and strengthen relationships. A strong social network can have a tremendous impact on your quality of life, and meal time is one of the easiest ways to nurture this basic human need. Instead of gathering around the TV at dinner, try using this opportunity to share quality food and conversation with people you care about.

But the joys of food are not limited to highbrow meals with other people. Both cooking and sitting down to eat by yourself without disruptions from multimedia can create rare moments of peace and thoughtfulness, a chance to break away from the constant demands on your attention. Taking time to reflect each day can do more to reduce your stress levels than banging out just a few more emails while inhaling a sandwich.

Food also has the power to deepen your appreciation of nature and your community. When food is important to you, ingredients (and where they come from) quickly take center stage. Great ingredients are a product of both nature and the skill of the grower. Understanding all that goes into making a wonderful meal helps you appreciate the seasons, the soil and the agricultural community that are responsible for growing your food. Understanding and respecting the origins of what you eat helps connect you to our planet and your local community.

Since we eat three times a day, the various joys we get from food can contribute immensely to our quality of life. Though it might not be possible to slow down and unplug every time you eat, striving to step away from multimedia at least one meal a day can help you work more efficiently the rest of the time.

When we pay it our full attention, food simultaneously recharges us in both body and spirit. In this way, unplugging and enjoying a meal is its own form of multitasking.

How does cooking and eating improve your quality of life?

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Meditating on food, the health differences between steak and bacon, and the secrets to ordering Thai are some of the highlights from around the web this week. I also figured your attention would be better spent on a cupcake canon rather than the usual BS of the week. Enjoy!

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

Links of the week

• An Eating Meditation (Literally) <<You can probably tell by now that I think mindful eating and awareness are under-rated aspects of healthstyle. I found this gem particularly inspiring, and I plan to start my food meditating today at breakfast. (Mark Bittman)
• Bacon, Hot Dogs And Sausage Look Worse For Heart Than Unprocessed Red Meat <<Surprise! Processed food is bad for you, not real food (even meat). (NPR)
• Anthony Boutard on What Makes Fruit Great? <<Excellent produce is my forte, but I learned a lot from this article by Amy Sherman. (Cooking With Amy)
• Food cravings may be powerful, but they’re not indestructible <<Some psychological tricks may be helpful in curbing food cravings. (Los Angeles Times)
• How to order Thai food like a native <<Surprisingly useful tips for ordering Thai food. Yum. (SF Gate)
• Wielding swords in Samurai Camp is the new aerobics for Japanese women <<I have officially discovered the coolest workout on earth. Now to move to Japan… (Times Online)
• How This Widening Lettuce Recall Is Different <<In case you haven’t been following the outbreak, this strain of E. coli (1045) is different than the usual culprit (0157:H7). If you don’t want to bother with the distinction, your best bet is to avoid all industrial food. (NPR)
• Spice Hunting: A Guide to Paprika <<We’re big fans of smoked paprika here at Summer Tomato, but there is more to this mysterious spice than most of us know. (Serious Eats)
• Carrot salad with harissa, feta and mint <<I’m very excited to try this recipe. I absolutely adore harissa and North African flavors, and I quickly get bored with carrots. Not anymore! (Smitten Kitchen)
• People Shot in the Face With Cupcakes in Super Slow Motion <<Nuff said. (Gizmodo)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

A lot of examples of healthstyle in action this week around the web. Some of my favorites revisit the principle of mindful eating, and why it is so important. In grosser news, what sort of sicko serves whale meat as sushi? “Would you like some baby snow owl with your endangered whale?” Jeez.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

Links of the week

• What Really Makes You Fat <<I love this short post by Dr. Weil about the importance of mindset and attitude in health and weight loss. A great illustration of healthstyle in action. (Dr. Weil’s Daily Blog)
• Don’t eat on a full brain <<Another illustration of the importance of mindful eating. Focus on your food, it tastes good. (Weighty Matters)
• Sushi Spot Is Charged With Serving Whale Meat <<This is just wrong. It’s a place in L.A. (New York Times)
• Making Friends With Cucumbers <<I love stories about people learning to love foods they don’t like. I had a cucumber epiphany myself a couple years ago. (Ready Made)
• In studies of human populations, don’t believe everything you read <<LA Times health blog Booster Shots has been getting their panties in a bunch about overstated scientific conclusions lately. Although their points are very very basic, I applaud their efforts in educating the public about how little we actually know about the dynamics of food and health.
• Guinness — maybe not good for you, but not a bad choice either <<How many Guinnesses did you drink on Wednesday? Yeah, I don’t know either. But I’m not so worried about it. Drink a different beer? Find out its Calorie Counts on this website. (Los Angeles Times)
• Master the Mind and the Body Will Follow <<I loved this (guest) post over at MizFit Online by Ryan Sullivan from No More Bacon. He is a living example of how giving up diets and finding your healthstyle can help you achieve your health goals.
• The fate of vitamins in vegetables, stored and cooked <<Great analysis by Marion Nestle about why you shouldn’t get hung up about how/why/if you should cook your food. Just be normal and eat natural foods that taste good, however they are prepared, the rest will take care of itself. (Food Politics)
• Juice and diabetes risk <<Juice isn’t health food. Sorry, it’s not. (Nutrition Data)
• Roast Chicken with Caramelized Shallots <<For some reason I’ve been really into chicken lately. Weird, I know. But if you’ve tried the amazing chicken we get here in SF–totally different from anything you can find at a grocery store–you’d understand (I think). Anyway, this looks easy and tasty. Plus, I want to eat everything @davidlebovitz makes. (David Lebovitz)

I hope I’ve inspired you today 🙂 Did I miss anything?